Covid Protocols: History's Lessons Lost

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210107-the-432-year-old-manual-on-social-distancing

Historical ignorance and the bubble of modern Western life have created our present state of affairs regarding Covid denial and resistance to common sense neighbourly measures of arresting the spread.

Modern American Christianity is largely Right-wing and as such is far removed from the ethics of the New Testament. Wearing a mask for example is (in the grand scheme of things) a minor inconvenience and rather than selfishly assert Enlightenment-based concepts of rights, Christians ought to have been the very first people to wear masks out of concern for neighbour and basic charity – let alone the testimony of the Church in the world.

I put it on not because I'm scared to die but because I don't want to be part of the problem. I will admit I don't want to catch it because I can't afford to miss two weeks of work – or have the effects linger for a month after. I can't do my job in a physically weakened state. That said, I believe out of care for my fellow man, wearing a mask and taking measures is the least I can do.

Most people in the world seem to get this point, even a lot of lost people. I am of course not speaking of those who are in sheer terror of the virus. We've all seen those folks too. That's a wrong and un-Christian response but given that seemingly many if not most Christians (at least that I've encountered) have also embraced wrong responses, I can extend a little charity to those who are afraid.

Largely speaking though, most people have understood the nature of the problem and have taken measures – even if it means being inconvenienced.

And yet in the United States something very different is happening. There's a split depending on demographics and culture. Now when I venture into an urban area probably 99% of the people are wearing masks (or making an attempt to) and when I see someone who isn't – they're either in some capacity identifiable as Evangelical types or the other possibility is that they're some kind of Proud Boy Trumpite type – Sons of Belial is how they are referred to in my house. Spiritually speaking they represent the same kind of reprobate conscience one finds among sodomites. Covered in Right-wing patriotic tattoos and invariably wearing some kind of pro-gun threatening t-shirt they are defiant – and in many cases seem to be all but handed over to their idols. In other words they do not seem to possess a conscience or even an awareness of other people beyond themselves.

But in the rural areas (such as where I live) mask wearing probably runs at about 50% or so. Large numbers of people believe it's a communist plot or that the pandemic isn't real. Because you see if they don't see it and experience it with their own eyes then it must not be real. It's provincialism run amok – a dangerous insularity. Combine this with ignorance of how the world works and of history and we have a potent and yet dangerous brew. The truth is a lot of people died around here and many more were sick – some of which seem to have what's being called Long Covid – the sickness dragging on for weeks and months. And yet many families won't list deaths as being Covid related in obituaries, even if that was the cause. In many cases, their Trumpism or some other notion of privacy prevents them from doing so. And thus, even though for awhile our obituary section in the local paper had tripled in size – the Covid deniers could still argue there was no evidence of a pandemic.

And it must be admitted that the government (at all levels) has done a poor job in providing information. Its policies have often been something akin to cobbled together chaos. The inconsistencies show and even otherwise dull people begin to pick up on them. It continues to amaze me that a year into this thing I still hear people say things that just boggle the mind – things indicating that they do not understand what has happened, the nature of the virus, or why any of these measures are in place.

It's sad because once again we fall into the 'lecturing the hillbillies' trap that rural people so greatly resent. It goes both ways of course. Rural people do not understand urban issues and listening to them talk in their 'aw shucks' fashion about city problems one has to just laugh and shake one's head. But at the same time urban people often do not understand the issues in sparsely populated areas and how absurd and unnecessarily burdensome the regulations seem. This is a proverbial and chronic problem and it isn't going to go away.

In terms of the immediate, the only hope of helping the current situation was for local leaders to 'step up' as it were, but they didn't. I see everyone from the town mayor to local sheriffs and other officials walking around maskless and blowing the whole thing off – even many people in the health industry. So is it any surprise that the population in general follows suit?

It ought to have been different in the Christian community but frankly from what I've seen the Evangelical community (and in my area the Amish) are the worst offenders. They have completely dismissed it.

The Amish for their part are incredibly ignorant – if you think that's unkind then you've never spent time with them – and in their case they can't think beyond their own noses. They do not live out the nonresistance ethic. They've become self-serving and even parasitical, and many play the dumb and innocent card when challenged. They do impact the wider world, they do utilise it, and interact with it but when called to account they pretend that they don't, that they're just minding their own business. Many of us wish they would, but they don't and their behaviour in this regard has proven to be disgraceful. I've taken to calling them out in public and rebuking them when I see them at the store. I've had a few get angry with me. Most simply flee.

But for the Evangelical community, it's even worse. In their case their defiance is rooted in politics and idolatry – commitment to a system and system of ethics at odds with the very faith they profess.

The New Testament knows nothing of their rights-and-revolution narrative or their notions of personal liberty, wealth and all the rest that goes along with the idolatrous American experiment. In this case the freedom they have turned into an idol has become the rope by which they are hanging themselves. They've got blood on their hands and the repercussions of the Trump era are going to play out for a long time. They'll call it persecution but in many cases it's simply punishment for their deeds. Spiritually speaking it's judgment.

Given to mythological readings of history, further amplified by the growing numbers that seem to be drawn toward dumbed down revisionism evidenced by the popularity of outlets like PragerU – they are becoming unreachable. And that's a scary place to be found.

I have found it particularly disingenuous for Right-wing anti-Covid advocates to suddenly appeal to the 'psychological' damage being done to people and particularly to children by the effects of being 'locked down' and the like. That's just them playing a card that would normally be utilised by the other side.

Once again, historical ignorance reigns. If people bothered to learn something and something about the hardship of past generations they would realise this period of Covid has been (relatively speaking) nothing – the people of today are pampered and decadent. A lockdown (which in the United States has been something of a joke) in today's terms is pretty mild given all the appliances and technology people now possess.

Rather than complain about our lot we ought to rejoice that compared to past generations we have it so easy – and I say this as one who is hardly excited about much of the technology or much that is modern medicine for that matter.

I won't for a moment dispute the financial hardship that many have experienced. It has been catastrophic but again is this because the Democrats want to 'destroy the economy'? That's an absurd notion – literally absurd. The Democrats may be lost, immoral and even at times stupid but to suggest they want to destroy the economy, take down America and the like – these are little more than lunatic ravings of witless fools. The Democrats would very much like to get the public back to work and back to normal. Count on it. They want the American economy booming. That's their meal ticket, the health of their own investments, and their means of power.

But this whole thing continues to be drawn out – and will be, because people can't be inconvenienced or think about anyone or anything beyond themselves or their immediate wants. It's a disgrace and one exacerbated by the American economic system which prefers to build bombs over much of anything else. This all could have been different but Americans seem to excel at self-destruction. What an indictment of this society.

And while many are wrapped up in delusions of communist plots and great resets, the truth is people have talked about this for a long time – the discussions began in earnest at the advent of globalisation in the 1990's. There was talk of pandemics and how quickly they would circulate and given the growing problems with antibiotic resistance, urban crowding, and integrated economies, it was hard not to be an alarmist. In truth, the effects of Covid have been mild – greatly ameliorated in other cases. But this only feeds the phony narrative. If the authorities are successful in restricting its spread – then they lose because that only meant that it was fake. There's no winning here.

Has Covid been overblown? Yes and no. It's not as serious as some made it out to be but at the same time if simply allowed to run amok among the US population it very well could have led to several million dead.

Is that good for the economy? How is that pro-life?

At the end of the day, American Evangelicals and American Christians in general have their god. It's called mammon and both Trump and Covid helped to pull back the curtain. We see it now in all its shining and repugnant glory. All the talk of being pro-life was just a facade as many of us knew all along. Mammon is their god and they'll fight to the death in order to defend it. The cross-bearing Christianity of the New Testament, the call to be fools for Christ and to be pilgrims in this world – they're just not interested. In fact in many cases they absolutely and categorically hate that Gospel and the Christ it preaches.